Ladies retain place in UK Women’s League

The Exeter Harrier’s ladies team made the long journey to Liverpool for the third and final league match of the season. After two matches the team were in third place in the league.

Exeter were missing a few key athletes which was noted in the hurdles and some of the field events. Two athletes, Kerry Angila and Laurie Dugdale, made their league debuts.

Meghan Whittaker and Lucy Smith had busy afternoons in the throws. Meghan was close to her personal best with 10.15m for fourth place in the shot A string won by GB international athlete Katrina Johnson-Thompson. She also came 4th and 5th in the hammer and discus respectively. Lucy came a fine second in the javelin with a season’s best of 36.04m. She also came third in the shot B string and fifth in the hammer.

Team captain, Becca Chapman won the 100m in a season’s best of 12.24s. She also came third in a close long jump after leading in the early rounds and third in the javelin.

Rosie Chamberlain was involved in two very close races. In the 400m, she came fourth with 57.26s in a blanket finish which saw 5 athletes clocking 57s. She also came fourth in the 200m in another close finish.

Emily Weeks was our other track winner in the 800m with 2:16.47 winning by over six seconds. She also finished strongly to come third in the 400m B string. Katherine Humphreys scored three fifth places in the 3000m A string and both 100 and 400 hurdles.

Kerry Angila had a busy afternoon in the jumps, coming 5th and 6th in the Triple Jump with 10.20m and Long Jump respectively. She also came 7th in the 100m.

Beth Skinner was another busy athlete in the jumps. She equalled her PB of 1.50m for equal fourth in the High Jump and came fourth in the Triple Jump. She also came fifth in the discus.

Anna Rust scored two fourth places in the 2000m steeplechase and the 3000m B string. Catherine Harman also scored two good fifth places in the 800m and 1500m B strings.

Laurie Dugdale scored two seventh places in the 1500m and the 200m.

In the 4x100m, Skinner, Angila, Weeks and Chapman teamed up for sixth place. For the 4x400m, Humphreys, Dugdale, Weeks and Chamberlain teamed up for another sixth place.

Exeter were in fourth or fifth most of the afternoon and were pipped into sixth near the end behind Liverpool.

This match rounds off the league programme for 2014 and the team have finished an excellent fifth in the league. They have retained their place in Division 3 for 2015.